PROFILE
Football first – Peter was behind Boro TV, starring commentator Alastair Brownlee( left) and local football legend Bernie Slaven. type, in our home town, which is important to us.
“ A data centre is like a warehouse but what we’ re building is like a factory. It’ s real-time and it needs to be local to the source.
“ The likelihood is Manchester and Carlisle are the next two, but that could change depending on planning approvals. Our initial plan is to build 20, but we’ re not going to raise £ 2bn tomorrow, so we’ re raising money through phases.”
Peter admits there’ ve been doubters:“ It’ s easier to be a critic than a creator,” he says, confirming around 200 people will be needed to build the Stockton site and 50 or so to run it.
Away from work, he enjoys playing tennis and one of his favourite hours of the week is spent presenting a US-themed, Sunday teatime radio show, Teesside to Stateside, on The Red.
But for a man who loves stories and storytelling – he’ s written two books, with the latest, personal development guide Camel in the Tent, taking its title from a Persian fable that can translate to the business world – it seems the AI chapter in his professional life could prove a riveting read too.
He said:“ When Mike asked me to join them, I told him I knew nothing about data centres. Mike said,‘ Good, that’ s why we want you!’
“ I was at a conference about coolers a couple of months ago and my presentation was solely about consumers. What does AI mean to a consumer? Forget the facility, what does it mean to an individual? With AI, a 15-year-old kid can know as much as a hedge fund manager today.
“ My stance about AI is the same as it was about broadband. I had no idea how broadband worked but I knew the potential and what it could do. It’ s the same with AI – it’ s all our futures.
“ I got a great gig with cable and now it’ s happening again in a different way. I’ ll tell you this: life’ s good. This is a great buzz.”
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The voice of business in the Tees region | 17